A Loving Embrace
by The Fragile Capricorn
Summary: Alfred locked himself in his room, trying and miserably failing to tend a fresh wound on his knee. Alone and with no one to help him, he feels bitter and miserable. I don't own Resident Evil, Alfred or Alexia.


**A Loving Embrace  
**

**

* * *

**

The door was locked, and Alfred's bed was littered with bloody white cloths, all too short to cover up the bleeding wound on his knee. His bed itself was stained with small, brown patches of dried blood. He knewlittle about first aid, and even though he knew how to apply bandages and ointment and whatnot, those were stored safe in a locked cupboard in the kitchen. He can't risk being seen by someone in this condition.

Desperately searching, he dug deep into the pile of clothes in an open cabinet, determined to find some cloth long enough to tie around his knee at least two times. The pile of clothes was growing larger and larger, collecting at his feet, until his feet were buried under the mass of cotton shirts, suits and previously neatly-folded pants. There was nothing in the cabinet that was worth it. Sighing, he picked up the used cloths on his bed and tied them to each other, making it long enough to wrap around his injury twice. Unfortunately, the tied cloth absorbed too much blood already and can't be used anymore.

"I give up..." he muttered, throwing the string of white cloths across the room. Not only was he running out of options, but his wound was also in pain. The whole time that he was looking for something to cover it up, he was biting back tears, scared of that others would think of him as clumsy and careless and also enduring the pain of the fairly large cut. _Like they'd care anyway_, he thought bitterly.

The fact that no one would care anyway made him a lot more miserable. He knew they'd scramble over him, be concerned for the moment, and then his father would arrive, scolding him of his incompetence and carelessness, then everyone would forget. He hated how everyone would admire Alexia so much and consider him of a lesser being. Not that he hated his sister, no...

"Huh?" Alfred jumped slightly, somewhat startled, as someone knocked on the door. He ignored it for a while, thinking that it could be the maid, coming to check if his room was in order. Again, the person knocked. Ignoring it didn't work, for whoever was at the other side of the door was getting a lot more impatient. He was ready to knock back furiously in frustration, when...

"Open up, Alfred!" a voice all too familiar said. Alfred, who got on his feet, stamping to the door, stopped dead in his tracks. "Alfred!" Alexia demanded, knuckles connecting to the door with swift, loud bangs. "Open the door!"

For a moment, he hesitated. His room was a mess, his bed was bloody, his knee bathed in crimson, and his cheeks streaked with tears. He couldn't let Alexia in at his state.

"Brother!"

Oh, but he knew what would happen if he kept his sister waiting. Without another second thought, he twisted the doorknob and pulled open the wooden door, facing his twin sister. Compared to him, she looked regal, elegant. And at the age of ten, she looked like a queen. Red faced, Alfred looked at his feet.

"What happened? Why are you like that?"

"Shh!" he said. "Come in, I don't want to let anyone know about this."

He closed the door, locked it and let his sister sit on one of the better chairs in his room. "Could you tell me what happened to you?" Alexia demanded.

"Umm, well, I don't know how to start..." he said sheepishly. "It all sounds too foolish."

"Don't worry." she replied.

"Okay, errm..." Alfred cleared his throat. "I was out in the garden, picking up white roses - "

"What for?" his sister shot, interrupting him.

"I... I figured you'd, you know, like it..." he grinned, cheeks burning red. Alexia rolled her eyes in amusement, then let him continue. "Well, anyway, I didn't notice a rock in my way, and I tripped on it."

"Brother, that was so careless of you! Look what happened." she shook her head in complete disapproval.

"I'm sorry, Alexia. I've been a complete fool."

"And what's that?" her attention went to the cloths he used as poor bandages, now brown, colored by dried blood.

"I tried to stop the blood flowing out from the wound with those..."

"You didn't bother using first aid?"

"Well, I don't want others to see me like this, sister!" he snapped, raising his voice unintentionally and surprising Alexia, who was used to Alfred being humble, silent and not assertive. She met his gaze, and realized for the first time that Alfred had been crying. His eyes were red and puffy, streaks of tears on his cheeks. "They won't care so much about me, scolding me for my carelessness! They treat me as if I've no room for mistakes! As if I don't really need caring of, since I'm not as important and as smart as... as you!"

Usually, at remarks like this that concerned Alexia's intelligence, she would be incredibly sensitive and argue with the person who made the remark. But seeing that this was her brother, and that she loved him so much, his statement caught her completely off guard and made her feel bad. She lowered her gaze, struck with shame. _Who knew my intelligence caused my brother misery?_

"S-sister?" sensing that something was wrong, he approached his sister, kneeling in front of her. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright, brother..." she smiled warmly at him. "I mean it, Alexia, I didn't mean to say that, I really didn't." he kept on.

"Oh, I told you, Alfred, it's okay." She held her brother's hand and hugged him tightly, not minding the blood staining her dress. "Somebody would still give you a loving embrace..." she murmured.

"Now, let's take care of that wound, shall we?"

* * *

_**A/N: **Another fic. Again, I had no idea how to end this thing. I suddenly had the idea to write this fic when I was playing Resident Evil CODE: Veronica X a while ago (taking a stab at the A Ranking thing... and I succeeded!), when I got through the door where you had to put Alfred, Alexia and Alexander's jewel on the painting. So, any reactions? I think I'm going to write a more mature fic later on._


End file.
